One Night in Hakone
So we took a bullet train (Shinkansen) from Kyoto to Odawara station and then a train from Odawara to Hakone-Yumotoeki, as this was the closest to our hotel. We only had a day in Hakone, so the intention was to stay in the hotel and relax. Kyoto was pretty busy with a lot of activity, and we knew Tokyo would be the same, so this was our moment to chill. We arrived at Hotel Okada, after a nice long stroll from the station. To anyone who choses to stay at this hotel, take the bus! The walk is arduous and with suitcases, pretty hard work. The hotel was one of the biggest in the area and had access to two onsens.
An onsen is a natural hot spring, where you have to bathe completely naked amongst other women (or men). To be honest, it was a little nerve wrecking at first but once in, you kind of forget, and then appreciate the scenery around you (more relevant in the outdoor onsen). The water gets so hot, that after 15 minutes or so, you need to get out and take a cold shower!That evening, we had a traditional Kaizeki dinner, which consisted of 12 different plates of food, served to us beautifully in our room! We ate our banquet and head for a late night onsen, before sleeping in a traditional Japanese bed, i.e. mattresses on the floor.
The next morning, feeling thoroughly relaxed we made our way to our final destination; Tokyo.
4 days in Tokyo
We had scheduled to end with Tokyo and the excitement grew as our trip progressed. Japan’s capital city and all its eccentrics were awaiting us, and we were ready to dive straight in. We had four full days and wanted to ensure we maximized these, of all we did, I have listed down a few of our highlights:
Food and Drink
Ain Soph Ripple
Our first stop in Tokyo was a burger join called Ain Soph Ripple, which was a vegan burger parlor! Great to get your fix of non-meat meals and super filling. It was a pretty chilled out restaurant with shared benches for dining and the food was of a good standard.
Makoto Sushi
We turned up at this sushi bar at 8.30pm and were met with closed doors – we had walked about 20 minutes in the cold and were starving so were pretty gutted when the guy told us they had run out of fish for the day. He must have felt sorry for us though, as he then said they could do us a smaller portion i.e. 12 pieces of sushi (set menu) rather than the typical 20 piece evening set.
It was delicious, and the service was incredible. It was an overall must do experience, as we sat up at the bar and watched the chef make the sushi and then he served us each piece one by one, and even cut my sushi into two, as I was taking small bites (v. considerate). Loved the atmosphere overall as we got to chat to the other patrons (only 2 others, both Japanese locals) and learn more about how Makoto Sushi came to be. I couldn’t believe how young the owner and chef were – all in all very impressive, and the sushi itself was amazingly fresh too!
Japanese Home Style Dinner
One thing I feel makes a trip to another country more authentic, is meeting someone who lives there. We were fortunate enough to know a few people in Japan, and therefore one evening went over to their flat and had a home cooked Japanese meal. Food and company was great, and it was so interesting to learn about living and working in Japan. It seems that no matter where you live in the world, there are many similarities, be it the day to day challenges or the high points!
Kagari in Ginza
This place had the best creamy chicken ramen hands down. Be prepared to queue for up to an hour (particularly on weekends) but it’s hands down worth it. That is all there is to say.
Park Hyatt bar – New York Bar
If you ask your friends who’ve been to Tokyo for recommendations, and this isn’t in their list, have they even truly been to Tokyo?! Every person I knew recommended this place and I had a feeling it would be full of tourists and a bit underwhelming. I was wrong (you won’t hear that often). It might have been as we went mid-week, or maybe it is just always like that, but there was a great vibe about the place. Pretty pricy for a drink, but if you get a table on the left hand side, you can get a great view of Mount Fuji on a clear day. We also timed it well so we got to watch the sunset whilst sipping on our whiskies.
Golden Gai
Golden Gai is a small street of tiny bars – when I say tiny I mean a maximum occupancy of 10 people type places. Like the sushi restaurant, this meant you got to talk to the bar staff and the other patrons in each of the bars we went to. The drinks were strong and the hours were quickly willed away down this street – no particular bar I would recommend as they all had great and different things to offer, but note that some have an entry charge or minimum spend, so make a decision on whether you’re bar hopping or getting comfortable for the night, before entering!
Activities
There was plenty of weird and wonderful things to keep us busy over our four days in Tokyo – a selection of our favourites are:
Robot Restaurant
Brilliant. This place was mental – not really knowing what to expect, I was pretty taken away by this show. Not a huge amount of genuine robots, but super entertaining none the less. There is an option to dine and watch, but we opted not to do this. The food, we have been told is pretty average and as we were only in Japan for a few more days we didn’t want to waste a good meal here. The show however, definitely a must-do – it just reminded me of exactly how weird Japan is. Check out the video link below to get a glimpse.
At the end we also met James McAvoy who was there celebrating a birthday – and being the subject of many a celebrity crush.
@Home Café
The strangest thing I have ever come across in my 29 years. There is a stereotype that the Japanese love a good fetish and there is an area in Tokyo (Akihabara) which is filled with “maid cafes” and Anime. @Home Café was a maid’s café, and had waitresses all dressed up as maids and running around being cute – because that’s the thing to be in Japan. I won’t ruin too much of it for you, but go and see – formulate your own opinion – I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this idea!
Tsujiki market
The famous fish market in Tokyo – this is where all the restaurants buy their fish, and if you go early enough in the day i.e. 5am you are able to eat the freshest catches of the day. If you are a real fish enthusiast and hate sleep, you can go even earlier at 3am to watch the tuna auction. Needless to say we did not do this, but from what I know, they have two auctions a day and it is first come first serve for viewers (capped at 100 per session) – this usually means people begin to line up at 1am. So staying up all night to watch some fish get sold… defs not my thing. We did however make it to the market bright and early. Whilst I don’t have the stomach for a sushi breakfast, it was cool to wander around and see the early morning sales.
Sumo Wrestling
Possibly the highlight of the trip was being up close to real life sumo’s. We actually went during off season, so there were no matches in place, however we were lucky enough to attend a training session where there were just 10 or so of us watching the sumos train and their skillset. It was genuinely fascinating – had I not been dying of an unfortunate hangover from Golden Gai the previous night, I would have enjoyed it more so, I’m sure!
Final Thoughts
Japan was indeed a once in a lifetime trip – made even better due to it being Cherry Blossom season and being reunited with my siblings across the globe. Japan has such a wide variety of things to see and do, and I imagine it can be a completely different experience depending on the time of year you go. It was particularly busy in April, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing about our dates. Kyoto had the history, Tokyo had the vibrancy, Hakone had the chill and everywhere had delicious food (mmm those choux buns are still on my mind). In 10 days we saw so much, learnt so much and tried so much! Japan you were an absolute beaut of a trip, and I am so very sad you are over. Sianara until next time!
Special shout out to my Bhavik & Alisha for aligning your trip with ours – it was amazing and here’s to many more!
